Before you start

For 6xx/7xx 2D acceleration, you don't need to use a branch of radeonhd any more - standard, released version 1.2.5 is enough.

You still need correct version of drm (kernel) driver. You can just install 2.6.30 kernel, or the Ubuntu Jaunty default kernel, or use following instruction for that. The alternative driver, radeon, can also utilize the same drm branch for the same features.

Current status is :

It should provide EXA acceleration, Xv acceleration.

AGP support has been recently added

Corruption problems believed to be fixed

Hanging on VT switch believed to be fixed

r6xx-r7xx-support branch were merged into master for both radeonhd and radeon

You must use drm code from r6xx-7xx branch of mesa drm or 2.6.30 kernel, or an older kernel (eg. Jaunty) with backported support.